A method for visualizing an object microrelief is known, which method includes steps of: exposing the microobject field to a coherent, monochromatic radiation, and converting the radiation reflected from the object into electrical signals corresponding to image points (USSR Author's Certificate No 1734066, Int. Cl. G02B 21/00, 1992).
This method allows to achieve a spatial resolution exceeding significantly the resolution limit of classical amplitude microscopes.
However, it allows to obtain high spatial resolution only for a small number of relatively simple objects being monomaterial and having simple geometry.
The disadvantages of said method are as follows:                it is impossible to interpret sensibly an object phase image, even with a moderate resolution, in the presence of materials at the object surface, having different optical parameters;        it is impossible to investigate highly informative distribution of optical material constants of the microobject surface layer.        
A micro-ellipsometer is known, which allows to perform a method for determining the object microrelief and surface layer optical features (Interferometrical Profilometry at Surfaces with Varying Materials, H. Jennewein, H. Gottschling, T. Ganz and T. Tschudi, Proceedings of SPIE: Metrology, Inspection and Process Control for Microlithography XIII, Vol. 3677 II (1999) p. 1009).
In the known method parameters of the microobject relief and a complex refractive index of the surface layer are measured simultaneously. The method allows to take into account and compensate for the particular case of stepped relief the effect of value of local complex refractive index to nominal values of relief height.
The disadvantages of this known method are as follows:                it has a low lateral resolution both in regard to the distribution of the refractive index and in regard to the relief parameters;        it is impossible to perform a procedure of the simultaneous research of the material and geometrical parameters for the common type relieves and for optically anisotropic materials;        the mentioned method has a low accuracy in determining optical constants.        
The method closest to the proposed one by the technical essence is a method for determining the object microrelief and optical properties of the surface layer, which method includes steps of: performing a polarization modulation; splitting an input coherent, monochromatic polarized light flux into an object light beam exposing the object field through the microlens, and a reference light beam; performing a phase modulation of the reference beam; performing an interference mixing of the light beams; extracting two mutually orthogonal components of the polarization and obtaining an interferogram; selecting a minimum fragment (pixel) of said interferogram; converting an average illumination of said fragment into respective electric signals; determining phases and amplitudes of a variable component of the phase modulation signal; calculating the values of phases, amplitudes and polarization parameters of the light falling onto the pixel from the object beam; and calculating optical material constants of the surface layer of the object (Russian Patent No. 2029976, Int. Cl. G02B 21/00, 1995).
However, the known method has a low accuracy in determining the optical constants due to impossibility to ensure an exposure of the object to a polarized light with a high extinction, and in the case of dark and poorly reflecting objects this method has a low spatial resolution in determining both the relief parameters and optical material constant distribution caused by absence of possibility to equalize the pixel exposures from the reference and object beams.
The device closest to the proposed one by the technical essence is a modulation interference microscope comprising: a laser, a phase modulator, a polarization modulator, and also a telescope, analyzer and photodetector mounted along a single optical axis, and a control generator, a signal processing unit, a controller designed to be connected to a computer through an exchange bus. The signal processing unit comprises a meter of the signal variable component amplitude and a phase meter (Russian Patent No 2029976, Int. Cl. G02B 21/00, 1995).
However, the known microscope does not allow a high accuracy in measuring the optical constants due to a low extinction of the electrooptical polarization modulator, and additional decreasing of that extinction at the cost of twofold passing of the light beams through the lens system of the microlens and lack of possibility to ensure the optimum mode of modulation.
The known microscope has the resolution levels unbalanced by the phase and polarization, which does not allow to obtain a high spatial resolution of the optical constant distribution. The known microscope does not allow to perform the controlled redistribution of the light intensity in the object and reference beams, which does not allow to equalize the given pixel exposure from said beams, thereby decreasing the relative value of the modulation signal variable component and deteriorating all parameters of accuracy and resolution.
This disadvantage is particularly actual for dark objects and for objects having poorly reflecting surface, for example, for fluids.